I studied chemistry at the Saarland University, Germany and completed my studies with a diploma thesis on mercury and lead arene complexes. I earned my doctorate in 1996 from the University Kaiserslautern, Germany, working on complex hydrogen-bonded salts. Two postdoctoral short stays at the Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry of Graz University of Technology, Austria were focussed on powder diffraction methods at non-ambient conditions. Since 1999 I am senior scientist at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf; working as service crystallographer and staff chemist. As a principal investigator, I am interested in the synthesis of novel polyiodides using Crystal Engeneering methods. Another importent topic of research is the pseudosymmetry problem as a possible pitfall in crystal structure determination.